The Blue Boy (Jonathan Buttall) Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788)

Description of Thomas Gainsborough’s painting The Blue Boy

The painting "Blue Boy" is one of Thomas Gainsborough’s most widely recognized works. The artist created his own distinctive style and manner of portrait painting. Paying particular attention to the models, he used the surrounding nature to convey their moods and characters.

In addition to the important role of landscape in his compositions, Gainsborough used cold colors, which are not typical of traditional canons. Curiously, the latter was even the cause of a polemic between him and his contemporary Joshua Reynolds, who believed that warm colors based on brown and red should be used in portraits.

Gainsborough did not seek to enter into a polemic with his opponent; by painting the portrait "Blue Boy" in exquisite silvery blues and grays, he thereby refuted his opponent’s arguments.

Jonathan Battle, who became the prototype image, was the son of a wealthy iron and hardware merchant. The boy was not an aristocrat, but the artist dressed him up in a sumptuous and elegant costume with deliberate intent. First, the portrait was painted in 1770, when it was fashionable in Britain to pose in 18th-century costumes. The second reason was the expression of independence and importance on the young man’s face that attracted Gainsborough’s attention.

The clothes only slightly enhance this effect of superiority. T. Gainsborough sought to capture just such a phenomenon, arguing that nobility is inherent not only because of a person’s background, but because of the character of the individual himself. The pose is simultaneously too simple and as if full of challenge, the consequence of which is a restless, darkening, like before a thunderstorm, sky behind the figure. The boy stands firmly and confidently, his gaze fixed on you, piercing you and reaching further beyond the horizon. He is there, illuminated by the light and shimmering like topaz, silver and pure heavenly color, radiating recklessness and grace. And in the next second he will disappear like a vision with a wave of his hat.

The painting is filled with grace, warmth and lightness, being one of the favorites for the artist himself. Incidentally, during his time, Thomas Gainsborough became a good friend of Joshua Reynolds, who remained a devoted admirer of his work and collected his works. By the way, there is also a later version of this painting - "The Pink Boy" or "Young Nicolae". It was painted in 1782, but is not as well known and not well known to the general public.